The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Dec. 31, 2002
Filed:
May. 25, 2001
Don Keilen, Sparks, NV (US);
Abstract
An antenna assembly including a resonator element which is operatively connected to the ground plane of a wireless communication device (WCD) is described. The resonator element comprises a flexible resonator support substrate of dielectric material which supports a conductive element or portion. The flexible nature of the substrate facilitates coupling to the ground plane of a WCD at a variety of locations including the interior, the exterior, or within a portion of the housing of the WCD itself. The resonator element may be provided with a dielectric support element which operatively connects the resonator element to the ground plane of a printed wiring board of a WCD. The support element includes a predetermined support edge portion which helps maintain the resonator element in a preferred predetermined shape, and a bottom edge with a conductive strip portion which is used to operatively connect the support element to a ground plane. The resonator element includes a conductive portion which may take several embodiments. In one preferred embodiment, the conductive portion is a wire member which is coiled about the flexible resonator support substrate. In another preferred embodiment, the conductive portion includes a conductive channel-shaped layer and at least one trace or line spanning the sides of the channel-shaped layer. In another preferred embodiment, the conductive portion includes a conductive layer deposited on the flexible resonator support substrate in an array pattern. All of the preferred resonator embodiments include a discrete electrical connection location which is operatively connected to separate signal and ground lines, and whose position may be varied depending upon the frequency ranges and performance requirements.